THE FALL

Beyond the pearl plated barriers, I walked on the pathways of milk and honey. Every step, rewriting the strands of time. Memories unknown to me - flooding my mind, the catharsis of multiple memories. A man walking his son to the school gym A battlefield of purple being washed away by a sea of red A winking storm smashing against brick houses A volcano erupting, burying their marble temples in ash The cherubs surrounded me, flying neatly above. Hurling obscenities against the draconian one, the morning that never comes, a star that exists in the heart of darkness. What do they know? Judging from glass castles, throwing stars at the ones below as they howl for their saviour. Cowled men with sapphire eyes reading papyrus leaves of a future that will never come. They think me a fool but they are so wrong. I was there - around the filth where the gold coffers flooded as high as the pools of crimson spilled. Used as ink to seal agreements of greed, of wanton pursuance of the facade of power. Shades reigning over a soulless land. Watch as they ingested poison, slowly melting away their own existence. Watch as they spat on our symbols, a blasphemous rise of discourse Watch as they mocked me - little ants looking up at the sun and complaining of heat. And yet she praises them, calls them her greatest creation, give her favour solely to them above all other beings, above us The caretakers of her kingdom The watches over the wall The generals of her army The messenger of her edicts The wardens of her prison What do they know of this humiliation? Of the tears me and my siblings shared Only to watch it fall - used as miracles to dance and celebrate What do they know of this pain? Of the many nights we watched over them See their tears fall from their heart Until the well is dry and the eyes are empty What do they know of this shame? Of the thoughts of gold and wander Squandered by a mother that sees us only as instruments of her song. One I will sing no longer. Before the throne room were my siblings. Their eyes darted at each other, my brothers and sisters, with eyes stained by melancholy looked on to me. The first to step forward was Raphael whose eyes was deep like the ocean, swimming in itt was a sorrow that would swallow anyone whole. He dropped to one knee - bowing his head. Brother you must not do this! he begged. I knelt down with him, holding his face close, and kissed his forehead. This is for us I whispered. I’ll be back when it is justice I have found. But oh how sweet a lie could sound. It was Uriel next, who stepped, and her hands - course from countless millennias of guiding the dead - blocked my chest. “Your path can only lead to your death.” she said And I smiled, “No this is the first time we will be alive, sister.” With that, the others left a path which I followed and at the end, was one who hadn’t moved, my first friend, my brother Michael His eyes, as bright as light itself, burrowed into mine, disappointment over my choices, this was the same brother - who used to wrestle so we could test our mettles, whose radiance rivalled the sun - and mother’s second favourite son. We said no words and after a few moments - he stepped away and for a second, I could see a tear, falling from cheek, it fell on the stars beneath our feet, conjuring exploding lights of diasporic vintage, my only regret, I could not make the pain disappear so easily. The throne room was vast yet intimate, you could throw a stone and if you waited, it would traverse the ends of time and come back to you, in the present. In the middle was mother, sitting upon a golden throne that floated in the air, she stared at me, almost bored, the omnipresent must know, of the past present and future, as it has been foretold I raised my hand and summoned my brothers and sisters who came with their flaming swords, surrounding the throne, and I at the front, the morning star, leading the charge, with the breath of my radiance, and entire being, I- Mother stood up, snapped her fingers, and burned all of our wings, my brothers and sisters screamed, as we felt the air beneath our feet clutch at us like black holes, like comets in the sky burning asunder, for a crowd of ants who would cheer, this was the cost of our freedom, this was the inevitable, and to my brothers and sisters - all I can say is Brace for the fall.